[Elspode]

A few years ago, my oldest son came home with a lost soul in tow. My stepkids were still pretty young at the time. The kid had a sob story about being away from home, no money, no place to stay. He even called his alleged mom to verify his story, but she sounded like any other woman to me. For all I knew, she could have been his accomplice in something.

To make a long story short, I gave the kid a nice hot meal, all the cash I had ($20), told him the names of a couple of public assistance services, and wished him luck.

I couldn't take the risk of letting him stay over for a day or two (which was what he wanted). I have a family to consider, and I simply knew *nothing* about him. So I did what my conscience told me. I helped him, but not as much as I would have helped a Cellarite with a provable identity.